Lilo & Stitch Go To Japan
by MarkKB
Summary: Traveling to another country should be simple, right?
1. The Tickets

**A/N: **Before I start, Lilo & Stitch are copyright © 2003-2005 Disney Enterprises. You'd have to be reeeally stupid to think I own them…

* * *

**Lilo & Stitch Goes To Japan**  
**Chapter One: The Tickets**

"I got them!"  
"You are getting what?"  
_Why is it that whenever I am creating most evil genius work, Pleakly comes barging in? I mean, is it hard enough to be asking to be left alone once and awhile?_  
Jumba, cross and annoyed, put his hands on his hips.  
Pleakly waved some little bits of paper in Jumba's face.  
"I won!"  
"Won what?"  
A loud explosion engulfed the experimental project area.  
Oh well, so much for that.  
"Jumba, What was that? Did you blow up the house again?"  
Older girl came running in.  
_Well, of cause I am not blowing up house, otherwise 'twould not still be being here!_ Jumba thought.  
"I got them!"  
"What is Pleakly screaming about this time?"  
Little Girl wandered in, and behind her, genius experiment 626.  
_Why is everyone asking me?_ wondered Jumba.  
"I got them!"  
"Gaba?"  
"I got them!"  
"Got what!" all present yelled at him, remarkably at the same time.  
"A family pass to Tokyo!"  
Nani fainted.  
Lilo shouted "Cool! We get to see Godzilla!"  
_I would like to be meeting this Godzilla, he is sounding veeery evil…_  
Anyway, 626 said something Jumba could roughly translate to being "Ooooh… Big city…" (It sounded sooo much better in Tantalog…).  
And Jumba… just stood there.  
"Well…"  
Pleakly looked like he was expecting something from him.  
"Well… have always wanted to see 626 destroy large city…"

So, there Jumba was, two minutes later, at the top of a stairwell, thinking about the Battle on Zarploc IV.  
"Jumba, why aren't you packing your stuff?"  
_Because, Mr One-Eyed Wonder, I am thinking about Battle on…_  
"Come on!"  
He dragged Jumba up to his room.  
So much for that.

Having finished packing his bags of clothes, food, evil genius technology and evil genius expe… er, pastry… Jumba headed towards the door.  
"Jumba…"  
"What is it being this time!"  
"Er… the front door's this way."  
_Oh. Right._

"Aloha 'oe, aloha 'oe…"  
_Am I ever telling you how bad 626 is singing? It is so bad, that… never mind. Anyway, he is being probably worse singer in this automobile…_  
"Farewell to me, farewell to me…"_  
I am standing corrected_, Jumba thought._ Once again, One Eyed Noodle is showing me that he cannot do anything right. And he is not even knowing the correct words…_

Five painful minutes later, the buggy had reached Coconut Cow's Town Airport.  
_These Americans, they are being very… um, what is word… very determind to be showing who is owning what… I think 'tis being possessive…_  
They all got out at Terminal 3.  
_Why get tickets if we can just be flying in evil genius's ship? I would be feeling much safer in superior spacecraft than rusty tin can.  
_  
"How may I help you?"  
_Yay. It is too cheerful lady from cruise ship._  
"My name is Tiffany! I'll be your flight attendent."  
_And what is being worse, she is coming with us… just to be hoping she is not putting us in evil playhouse…  
_  
"Last call for flight JA6893 from Kokaua Town to Tokyo, Japan."  
'_Tis not only Americans which are being determined to show off_, Jumba mused._ I mean, 'Tokie's Yo-Yo'? That is just being ridiculous… I am not seeing small child amusement anywhere in brochure…_  
Jumba started calculating the true value of pi when Pleakly grabbed him by the arm.  
"That's our flight! Come on!"  
So much for that.


	2. Catch You Catch Me

**HeMeleNoLiloLover:** It was a good idea, and I'm not the one to let a good idea die... though, when I wrote it, I wasn't actually thinking about any of your fanfics...  
**HeMeleNoLiloLover, ****Kioko the pirate, Ri2:** Since all of your questions are related, I might as well answer them all at once: This is a huge pun on Jumba's accent. Basically, Jumba mispronounces a _lot_ of things, leading him to believe that some place names are so because of the thing/person that owns them, or an object in said place. It all started with 'Minnie's Soda'... Basically, Coconut Cow's Town is 'Kokaua Town' and Tokie's Yo-Yo is 'Tokyo'. If you're still confused, check out _Lilo & Stitch go to Camp Snoopy_ by HeMeleNoLiloLover.

* * *

**Lilo & Stitch Go To Japan**  
**Chapter Two: Catch You Catch Me**

"Ohayoo gozaimasu!"  
Two girls and a boy walked into the already overflowing classroom and took their seats, the girls beside each other and the boy behind.  
"Now, listen up, people."  
The teacher rapped the blackboard with his stick.  
Everyone silenced themselves immediately.  
"Now, I know you've been absolutely _begging_ me for a field trip to Tokyo Tower…"  
Cheering filled the room.  
"…but unfortunately, we can't go today."  
The previously psyched up students fell crestfallen.  
"That is why I expect you all to be in mufti tomorrow… and yes, Zachary, we bring a _backpack_, not a bandanna on a stick."  
The teacher blocked his ears instinctively as the multiple talk of "Yay!", Yes!", and the occasional "You owe me five bucks…" reached the decibel level of a jet at take off.

"Yay, we're actually going to Tokyo!"  
Tokyo, Home of the Cherry Blossom, sushi and Godzilla. And that funny looking car…  
Anyway, the Pelikai family were sitting in the terminal, waiting for Pleakly to check out his tickets with Twinklehead.  
Well, at least, Jumba and Nani were. Lilo was playing Hide and Go Seek with Stitch.  
"Ready or not, here I come!"  
_Now where is he?_  
Lilo walked over to the doughnut bar. After all, he could have been there… and Lilo was hungry.  
A cool Japanese song was playing in the background… appropriate because it was about catching stuff… probably. It was almost impossible to tell between the Japanese and the sub-standard airport speakers… Oh well.  
Lilo grabbed a doughnut and sat down with Jumba.  
"Whatchya doin'?"  
"Just playing around with evil genius exp… I mean, pastry. What is little girl doing?"  
"Looking for Stitch. Have you seen him?"  
Jumba looked at Lilo for a bit, then looked at the doughnut bar.  
"Are you seeing over there? That doughnut pile?"  
"Uhuh…"  
"I have been noticing something over there… doughnut mysteriously vanishes every 20.43 seconds… right on time."  
_Jumba was right!_  
A doughnut had been quickly removed from the pile by someone with sharp blue claws…  
Lilo crept around the back of the bar. There was Stitch, pigging out on doughnuts.  
"Stiiiitch…"  
"Er… ha-ha-hi!"  
Just then, Pleakly came in.  
"The tickets have been cleared, and we're supposed to be boarding the plane now…"  
Lilo pulled Stitch on to his feet and dragged him down the hall and across the terminal towards Customs.

"BEEP BEEP BEEP!"  
"Um… Mr… Jookiba, please step this way."  
"What is being problem?"  
Pleakly watched as Jumba was taken away.  
_Don't worry, Pleakly, he hasn't done anything wrong…_  
Pleakly tried, unsuccessfully, to reassure himself…  
_But what if he has? What if he's done something evil? What if he's arrested? What if our secret's discovered and we'll have to live out our lives on the run from the FBI or if the MIB lock us up and we'll be eaten alive by all the rats and the worms and the mosquitoes and the Gsunials…_  
"All right, Jookiba, you can go."  
Pleakly walked up to him calmly.  
"WHAT HAPPENED?"  
OK, maybe… not so calmly.  
"'Tis only detecting metal… never mind, 'tis not important."  
_No-one ever tells me anything, _Pleakly thought.

Everyone was sitting in the aeroplane. Pleakly was musing over some stuff…  
_Apparently, due to some mixup, we get to take first class! Fascinating…_  
"This is your captain speaking: Welcome to Japanese Airlines Flight JA6893. We hope you enjoy your flight."  
Pleakly started watching the movie. He thought it was about a polar bear in a blizzard… or something like that.

"YEOW!"  
A bolt of pain shot through Pleakly's arm. He woke up to find the little monster slobbering over him.  
"Are we there yet?"  
Lilo looked at him in a concerned way…  
"We haven't even left the ground. It's been hardly two minutes."  
"But the movie about the blizzard…"  
Lilo looked back at the screen.  
"That's static, Pleakly. Just static."  
_Oh, yeah, sure, ruin the movie for me… why not just tell me the ending, too!_

The plane having left the ground, Pleakly lay back in my reclining chair and watched the ceiling. White.   
Then he watched the window. White.  
Then he watched his eyeball swivel around its socket in the mirror opposite him. White.  
Then he watched the movie. It was about some Hawaiian girl who'd lost her parents and lived with her struggling sister who was being threatened with separation… that kind of thing. He watched it for ten seconds before returning his gaze to the ceiling.


	3. The Girl

**Lilo & Stitch Go To Japan  
****Chapter Three: The Girl**

"Wake up!"  
"Go wake someone else up…"  
"Everyone else _is_ awake! We need to leave the plane _now!_  
"We're on a plane? Where is being house? Am I blowing it up again?"  
Suddenly it all came back to him.  
"OK…"  
Jumba got up clumsily. The pilot continued to stare at him.  
"Now, where are we being again?"  
"Japan."  
_That is being right… Jap's Pan…_

"Ah, is good to be being in fresh air again!"  
Jumba stretched his arms.  
"So, where is little one-eyed one taking us to stay?"  
"Don't worry, a taxi will be here in about half an hour… meanwhile, there's a park over there…"

Lilo ran on ahead, looking for Stitch, who had mysteriously disappeared after landing.  
"Oomph!"  
Lilo had run into someone. A girl.  
_Memo to self: keep one's eyes ahead of ones body…_  
She brushed herself off.  
"Aloha…"  
"Er… ohayoo gozaimasu."  
The girl held out her hand. Lilo shook it.  
She looked the girl over. She had long brown hair and large turquoise eyes. She had donned a scarlet t-shirt, a short white dress and a funny bird-beak necklace.  
"Sorry 'bout that… have you seen my… er… blue furred ectoplasmic detection dog?"  
"Yeah, he went that way. Hope you find him… Well… sayonara…"  
"See ya 'round!"  
Lilo ran off in the direction the girl had pointed in.  
As she walked, she thought she heard a voice coming from the girl's backpack. But she shook it off as a delusion of her paranoid mind.

"Stiiiitch! Where are you?"  
Lilo spotted a hot-dog stand.  
_Hmm… I wonder…_  
She went round the back. Stitch was sucking up the mustard.  
"Stitch…"  
"Er… hot-dog?"  
Just then, Nani called across the park.  
"Lilo! The taxi's here!"

"…and then a zombie grabbed him!"  
Nani sighed. Why was it her that was cursed with this burden?  
OK, so Lilo was OK. But then there was Mr Destructo, AKA Stitch. Who knew how much money he'd cost them in Japan…  
And, of cause, there's Jumba. No, it's not _just_ the food, but his wacky inventions as well! They should come with a slip saying _Guaranteed to put a hole in your wall or your money back!_  
And of cause, there was Pleakly. Honolulu was bad enough, but Japan was supposed to be the fashion capital of the world!  
Oh well. Maybe Pleakly had learned to cut back on the extravagant (read: expensive) stuff. Maybe Jumba had learned to cut back on the evil evilness. Maybe Stitch was less destructive.  
_And maybe I should have paid insurance…  
_  
"OK, here we are! That'll be 200 yen."  
"200? Isn't that a bit much?"  
"No, Nani, 200 yen is roughly equivalent to a dollar over in the US."  
Pleakly smiled and gave the taxi driver a few leafy-green banknotes.  
"Er… Pleakly, how did you know that?"  
"I read the travel brochure! It's _fascinating…_"  
They walked up the steps into the hotel.  
"Did you know that though its true name is Japanese, this neighbourhood is nicknamed after it's elementary school, which surprisingly has an English name? If only I could remember what it was… anyway, this suburb is one of the most English-speaking areas in Japan!"  
"I'm sure it's _fascinating_," replied Nani.


	4. Secrets and Stowaways

**A/N:** As I said in _Lilo & Stitch's Star Trek_'s A/N, I've been busy as of late, and only really got time to do this when the phone lines went down this weekend (which is why I haven't been online these past two days...)

* * *

**Lilo & Stitch Go To Japan  
****Chapter 4: Secrets and Stowaways**

"How many times have I got to tell you? If you come along, you _have to keep quiet_!"  
"Well, you know how I get around food! If you had just gotten me a hot-dog…"  
"I couldn't have! That girl's already suspicious enough… she'd think I was following her…"

"…and then I bumped into this girl…"  
While Pleakly was _trying_ to sign in (somehow he got the impression that signatures had something to do with five-page essays), Lilo was retelling the events of what happened to Jumba.  
"…and then I heard this voice coming from her bag, and then I found Stitch acting like…"  
"Wait, wait, wait, hold back!"  
Jumba stood up and walked over to Lilo (the couch was creaking dangerously anyway) and examined Lilo closely.  
"Little girl, this voice, what is it sounding like?"  
"A lot like 625's…"  
"Really…"  
Lilo didn't like the way he said that.  
"What?"  
"'Tis nothing!"  
"Juuuumba…"  
"No, really, little girl," he said unconvincingly.

"Oh, you mean, signature!"  
"Yes… what did you think I meant?"  
"Er…never mind…"

Having paid the guy his money (Nani made him pay in _real_ cash, after the Honolulu incident she wasn't risking anything), Pleakly strolled down the hallway of the newly rented suite, humming "Megota Questa".  
"Let's see… Jumba has Room 21, Nani has Room 32, Lilo & Stitch have Room 22 and I have Room 33."  
He opened the door to his room, whilst opening his briefcase.  
"Now for some peace and qui… AHHH!"  
Pleakly suddenly dropped his case.  
"OW!" the briefcase said, or at least, seemed to say.  
Pleakly stared at the case. It jiggled.  
"Jumba, my briefcase's _alive_!"

Jumba dropped his case (which also made an 'ow' noise, though no-one noticed it) and rushed into the room (OK, plodded would be a better description) with a plasma gun (you've got to wonder why he always seems to have one on him…).  
"Please to be standing back, could be vaary dangerous…"  
He picked up the case by it's bottom, with the plasma gun pointing at the floor, and opened it.  
A pair of blue-rimmed glasses fell out, followed by a thing that looked extremely familiar… it fell face first onto the spectacles, picked itself up and slid it's glasses up it's nose.  
"Um, Pleakly, did you know that your socks have a seventy-three to one stink to sock ratio?"  
"FOUR-ONE-NINE!"

"Jumba, please, not so loud…"  
Nani, who was now behind Pleakly, fixed her with a look that could freeze… that place… down there…  
"Why did you come?"  
"Well… I've never seen Japan, well, y'know, I've read about it, and I know all about it, but I've never actually seen it, and can I please stay? Pleeeease?"  
"Well… OK. But, next time ask _before_ squashing yourself into a briefcase."  
"Yes!"  
Jumba started walking down the hall.  
"And Jumba?"  
"What is it being, 419?"  
"You might wanna check your briefcase before…"  
"Why, nothing but… FOUR-TWO-SIX!"


	5. Too Much Romeo

**HeMeleNoLiloLover (ch3): **Who would?  
**Kioko the pirate (ch3):** Little? When did I say little?  
**hamishwarfare (ch3):** I cannot tell you if you're right or wrong about your hypothesis...  
**HeMeleNoLiloLover:** Well, isn't humor, by definition, supposed to be humorous:D  
**A/N**: Another day, another chapter... review away...

* * *

**Lilo & Stitch Go To Japan**  
**Chapter 5: Too Much _Romeo!_**

"Yo yo yo, what's up in the hizouse?"  
Lilo stared at 426. He was in one of her over-sized red jumpers, which almost completely engulfed him in a sea of over-sized red jumper-ness. He had on over-sized sunglasses; in his hands was a plastic microphone that Lilo hadn't seen since she was three.  
"He's going through one of those phases," 419 explained. "Basically, he's been listening to too much rap."  
"Hey, shorty, it's your birthday, we're gonna party like it's your birthday…"  
"Uhuh. See what I mean?"  
"…Nani says stop, but 'Lo says go, we're the first aliens with our own TV show…"  
"Um… Jumba… do you know what he's saying?" questioned Lilo.  
"Well, seems to be ancient dialect known only as 'rapparsi'. 'Twill take me some time to translate…"  
"…you love Little Girl, holler back, Disney Channel's where she's at…"  
"I think he's talking about _you_, Lilo," said Pleakly with uncertainty.  
"What's Disney Channel?"  
"Dunno… it's not on the listings…"  
"…hey, 'Lo, watch it flow, it's time for Stitch and Lilo…"  
"ENOUGH!"  
Everyone turned around (or in Jumba's case, knocked everyone else over.)  
"It… is time… for bed," breathed Nani.

BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!  
Lights… shapes… voices… the Eiffel Tower in pink?  
Lilo snapped her eyes open. All she could see was one giant eye.  
"AHHHH! GIANT CYCLOPS!"  
"WHERE?" came the squeaky voice of Pleakly.  
Lilo blinked. Pleakly had backed off and was now looking for the 'Cyclops'.  
"Wha-wha-what time is it?" asked Lilo, trying (and failing) to stifle a humongous yawn.  
"Five o-clock."  
"Is it that late? Did I miss…"  
Jumba plodded in, also trying to prevent a yawn from escaping his diaphragm.  
"No, no, li-li-little girl, in the mor-mor-morning…"  
"WHAT?"

"What's all the co-commotion?"  
No experiment liked to be woken up at five in the morning, and of cause, 419 was no exception. She found herself thinking as she climbed down the bunk above Jumba's something along the lines of _this had BETTER be good…_  
"Pleakly was just about to explain why he woke everyone up at five in the morning. _Weren't you_, Pleakly?"  
Pleakly swallowed hard. Nani was still staring at him.  
"I was? I mean… er… of cause… um… well…"

"Breakfast? Now, I found the recipe for sushi online, it's _fascinating_!"  
Lilo looked up from the table. Pleakly was dressed in what appeared to be some kind of uniform. On the table, raw fish rapped up in what appeared to be seaweed and rice.  
"Er… no thanks, I'll just stick to cornflakes. Stitch?"  
Stitch, being Stitch, climbed up onto the table, pushed Pleakly aside and devoured everything on the plastic tray, followed soon after by the tray itself.  
"Did the thought that someone _else_ may have wanted that ever cross your mind, little monster?" Pleakly scolded.  
"Um… naga…"  
"And who would be wanting to consume raw aquatic Earth-food?"  
Pleakly stared straight into Jumba's eye… eyes… um…  
"Well, you might wanna give me a little more support… who does all the cooking?"  
"And who always is putting earth fowl in dishwasher?"  
Pleakly scowled.


	6. Magic and Mystery

**A/N: **First chapter of the new year. Meep.  
**  
Lilo & Stitch Go To Japan**  
**Chapter 6: Magic and Mystery **

"Oooo…"  
"What is it this time?" breathed 419.  
"Another magic box!"  
"Congratulations, you've found the fridge."  
Pleakly stared at her with a look of disbelieving defiance.  
"But… I ate all the raviolis last night… and they re-appeared!"  
"OK, I'm not even going to bother… Jumba?"  
Jumba took his head out of a box of a box of jumbo-sized mini-corndogs.  
"What?"  
"Can you please tell Pleakly that this is _not_, as he claims, a magic box!"  
"Of cause it is not being."  
419 sighed.  
"Thank you…"  
"It is being food materialiser!"  
"What?"  
"We have those on ship! They are creating food out of proton molecules… er, 419… why are you banging head against wall?"

"Oh my GOODNESS!"  
"It's terrible!"  
"It's horrible!"  
"It's…"  
"OK, yo, I get it!"  
426 slowly stumbled out of Jumba's room.  
"What happened…"  
"Well, thanks to my _older_ sister, I got the bottom bunk…"  
"And what's wrong with that?" asked Lilo. "I got the bottom bunk in my room…"  
"Y'all don't understand… Jumba was in the middle."  
"Ouch…"  
"Ooo…"  
"That gotta hurt!"  
"So… is there any particular reason you're all standing around?"  
Everyone turned his or her head. 419 was walking down the hall, head down, PDA in hand.  
"By the way, Jumba, I found your handheld…"  
She looked up and met with the stares of most of her extended family (excepting Jumba, who was at this moment getting more mini-corndogs.)  
"Er… OK… where's Jumba…"  
A small gleam appeared in Stitch's eye. 419 didn't like the look of it, nor the look 426 was giving her at the moment.  
"Um… I'll just… go now…"  
She quickly slipped into the kitchen and double-locked the door.

"Hey, 419... why are you in so much rushing?"  
"Can't talk... must run... er, Jumba, you don't want to open that door..."  
"Why not?"  
"Well..."  
Jumba opened the door.  
And through rushed 626, followed closely by Pleakly (trying to catch 626), 426 (trying to catch 419), Lilo (trying to catch Stitch _and_ a 'northern banshee', whatever that was), and Nani (trying to catch Lilo).  
"Um... that's why."  
"Get her!" shouted 426.  
"Get him!" yelled Lilo.  
"Get back here right this instant!" exclaimed Nani.  
"Get out of my kitchen!" cried... some guy dressed in white.  
"Who are you?"

The chief chef had arrived on the scene to see his kitchen – his beautiful, marvellous, spotless kitchen - being ravaged and ransacked by three dogs, a young girl, a teenager, a hat stand, and a hippo.  
"I am the head chef of this hotel. Out! Now!"

"And next time you want a snack, wait for lunch!"  
The chef slammed the door behind him and wiped his brow. Sure, it was bad enough when those '_ducks_' ate all the ice-cream last week, but now what was he to say? That _aliens_ ate all the jumbo mini-corndogs? Or maybe he was finally losing it. Where _did_ he put that resignation form?

Meanwhile, about 2 km away, in an ordinary suburban house, an alarm clock rang. And a hand blindly grouped for the 'snooze' button.  
Now, most hands are attached to arms, arms to shoulders, shoulders to people, unless said hand, arm, shoulder or person was somehow detached in a painful but no doubt humorous manner. This particular hand, however, _was_ attached to an arm, a shoulder, and a person, and this person was named Sakura.  
"Just five more minutes..."  
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead," called a voice from the corridor. Sakura instinctively ducked as two pillows came flying her way.  
"C'mon, squirt, up and at'em… It's only about 8:13..."  
"8:13!" The large mess that was her bedding fell in a heap on the floor, as Sakura leaped (or rather, stumbled) out of bed, tripped over her laundry basket and fell at her _oniisan_'s feet. Only now did she think to check the clock. It read 7:47.  
"Tori!"  
"Well, it got you up, didn't it? Early to bed, early to rise..."  
Sakura groaned.


	7. My Neighbour…

**A/N:** Yay, new chapter!

**Lilo & Stitch Go To Japan  
Chapter 7: My Neighbour…**

419 and 426 were watching Nani's frantic attempts to catch a taxi.  
"Taxi! Taxi! Er… taxi? Stop! Please? Please…"  
"That is no way for to be catching brightly-coloured automobile made for temporary transport," Jumba pointed out. 419 noticed he was holding a suspicious-looking pen-barrel.  
"And I suppose you have a better idea?"  
"Of cause," he exclaimed, brandishing the pen-barrel. "I have developed highly sophisticated immobilisation ray, with which I can freeze all things and reek havoc on the entire world!" He shrugged. "Also good for stopping ex-wife from going on annual shopping spree."  
"No way," Nani countered. "I've already had to fix at least three giant holes back home as a direct result of you, and now you want to blow up Japan too?"  
"Er, no, just to get taxi. Want I should demonstrate?"  
"No! Look, Jumba, I don't have…"  
Jumba pressed the release. A yellowish beam shot out of the end and surrounded Nani, who had turned slightly pale. A moment later, the beam faded, and Nani was frozen.  
"Genius, no?"  
He pushed the button at the end. The beam, blue this time, surrounded Nani again.  
"… time to play along with… what just happened?"  
"I immobili-sed you."  
"Why'd ya do that?"  
"Because, being frank, you…"  
"Hey, why don't we just go to the depot?" suggested Pleakley.  
"That's actually not half bad!" Lilo said.  
"Considering Pleakley's usual attempts at idea-generation," added 426.  
"And I suppose you know where the depot is?" said Nani, tapping her foot impatiently.  
"Er… yeeaano. But I know how to ask!"

Pleakley looked around.  
_Let's see… Sony…Ghibli__… hot-dog stand… Deisunii…  
_He spotted a sign proclaiming 'neko-basu' beside what looked like a bus-stop shelter, and walked over.  
"Sumimasen…"#  
"Hai."  
"Benjyo wa doko desuka?"¤  
The whole shelter burst out laughing. One muttered "Are wa benjyo desu"§ and pointed to a park with a toilet nearby. Pleakley replied with a quick "arigatoo gozaimasu" and returned to the front door of the hotel.  
"Well, that was easy!"  
419 was trying unsuccessfully to muffle a chortle.  
"I dunno, I don't see a depot…"  
"Stop being such a worry-wart, Nani! Besides, what harm can it be if it isn't?"  
"Heh, the last time he said that, kablooey!" muttered Jumba.

* * *

"We've been going round and round in circles, Pleakley!"  
"Well, technically, they're irregular shapes…"  
Nani shot a very dangerous look at Pleakley.  
"Er… um… well… I'll ask someone for…"  
"Oh, no, that's how we got into this mess! I'll ask!"  
She approached a passer-by.  
"Excuse me, could you show me the way to the taxi depot?"  
The guy just stared at her.  
"I thought you said this was one of the most English-speaking areas in Japan!" Nani whispered through gritted teeth.  
"How was I supposed to know he'd be one of the only ones that didn't?" Pleakley shot back. "Maybe if…"  
"No! Your '_honourable'_ Japanese language skills got us into this disaster! Look, we'll just… catch a bus!"  
"Only problem is, we don't know where the stop is," said Lilo.  
"Or where we are," muttered Jumba.  
"All thanks to Pleakley," said 426 in an undertone.  
"Ehmba chuuta," agreed Stitch.  
"Well, I think you're all being a little too harsh to Pleakley," said 419.  
"You would think that," muttered 426.  
"Knowing Pleakley as long as I have being," said Jumba, "be trusting me on zis one: we aren't."  
However, aside to 419, Jumba said, "If you arespeaking of Nani, me and 426 are agreeing."

* * *

A half-hour later, a little worse for ware, after stopping for directions twice, and Nani finally letting Stitch use his keen sense of smell, which could sniff out American Mustard miles away, they arrived back at the hotel door, with Pleakley bringing up the rear. As he passed the skyscrapers, he noticed that the bus shelter had mysteriously disappeared, however the '_neko-basu_' sign was still there. He blinked. The bus silhouette on the sign seemed to have ears…  
He decided that some of the paint must have chipped off, and the shelter had been a figment of his imagination. 

# Japanese, "Excuse me…"  
¤ Japanese, literally "Where is the toilet?"  
§ Japanese, literally "Over there is the toilet."

NB:Desu is usually pronounced'dehs', rather than 'de-su' as usual in Japanese. Are is 'a-re', not 'ahr' as in English.


	8. Shinjuku Station

**A/N: **As with _Lilo & Stitch's Star Trek_, I've done another chapter for this one as well, which I will upload in two days.

**Lilo & Stitch Go To Japan**  
**Chapter 8: Shinjuku Station**

Stitch stared out the window.  
They were travelling through the _Shinjuku _District of Tokyo, an area that had so much geek stuff as to make even Jumba look in awe.  
Stitch glanced at Jumba. He was chatting enthusiastically with a Japanese person from Osaka, west of Tokyo, about magnetic hard drives vs. optical hard drives vs. flash-based hard drives. Nani was keeping a careful eye on Stitch and Jumba, while Pleakley was attempting to read the bus-route map. Lilo was sitting beside Stitch reading a Japanese TV Guide (well, at least, _looking_ at it.) 419 and 426 were nowhere to be seen.  
"Shinjuku Junction!" one of the guys in the front of the bus yelled.  
"That's our stop," muttered Pleakley to Nani as he stood up. Stitch followed suite.  
Jumba, getting the idea, broke off the conversation with a "It was nice to be meeting you," and clumsily got up as the bus shhhushed to a halt.

Pleakley looked around.  
"Er, Jumba," he whispered as they got off the bus, "where's your two experiments?"  
Jumba stepped on to the ground. The bus shook uneasily, as if it were sensitive about Jumba's weight.  
"Er… I am not knowing…"  
At that moment, Lilo's case knocked.  
"Lft… mhe… oht!"  
Lilo opened the case to find 419 wrapped in one of her dresses.  
"Well, we have to go incognito, don't we?"  
Lilo sighed.  
"Fine…"

After extracting 426 from Jumba's brief, Pleakley lead the way to Shinjuku Station.  
"With over 2 million passengers travelling through its gates per day," he read from the guide book, "Shinjuku Station is _the_ most busiest station _in the world_! Isn't that _fascinating_?"  
419's jaw dropped.  
The station was about as wide as the entire CBD of Kokaua Town. Two brightly-lit neon signs, one proclaiming "Lumine 1", the other displaying the stylised logo of Japan Rail, adorned the space above about five giant doors. In front of that was a 5-laned 'main' street cramped with cars taking part in the daily traffic jam. Interwoven with the cars were hundreds of people streaming in and out of the station, some chatting on cellphones, some slurping shaved ice and chocolate sundaes.  
Only problem was, they had to actually cross that road first.  
Pleakley tried simply walking, which resulted in him getting pushed over by a wave of people. Nani tried excusing her way through, which had almost no effect because most of the people a) did not understand English and b) didn't really care anyway. Stitch grabbed Lilo and jumped along the slow-moving mass of cars to the other end. 426 tried some karate thing that he said he saw on _Romeo!_. 419 tried singing _Achy Breaky Heart_, in her opinion one of the most annoying songs ever, expecting everyone to kneel over gasping, blocking their ears, only to discover that the Japanese… didn't actually care.  
Jumba simply waded through the mass, parting the crowd as Hagrid would in Diagon Alley. Pleakley, Nani and the two 400-series experiments followed behind as Jumba 'please to be excusing'-ed himself through the crowd and to the other side where Lilo and Stitch were waiting.  
"What took you so long?" Lilo asked in mock anxiety.  
"Eh, have you seen the traffic?" replied 419.


	9. A Mini Shopping Mall

**Lilo & Stitch Go To Japan  
****Chapter 9: A Mini Shopping Mall**

"Woah, it's like a mini sho…"  
Nani put Lilo's hand over her mouth and took her aside.  
"Remember what I told you back in the hotel?" asked Nani sweetly.  
Lilo thought about this. Nani was acting all nice. If Nani is acting nice, it means she wants something. And if she wants something, that means…  
"No," said Lilo calmly.  
"_Don't-mention-the-S-word_," said Nani through gritted teeth.  
"You mean, _shop_?"  
"Shh!" hissed Nani. She looked around, as if she was worried someone might be listening.  
"You know how Pleakley gets around shopping malls," she continued, hands on hips, "and all we need is another Westfield Mall incident on our hands."  
"It was only a bracelet," stated Lilo.  
"And 300 pounds of cement! Jumba couldn't move for weeks!"  
I think we shouldn't dwell on the past," Lilo said, and with that she walked off to chat with Pleakley.

"Jumba?"  
"What is it, Stitch?" Jumba asked from behind _Knowing Magazine_.  
"Meega unchuga!" said Stitch, pointing at his mouth.  
"You want coffee or soda?"  
"Coffee!"  
"OK, wait a moment…"  
Jumba turned to 419.  
"Er… 419, you studied Japanese, didn't you?"  
"Huh?"  
419 looked up from what she was reading.  
"Oh… yeah, I did."  
"Could you tell me what 'coffee' is? 626's thirsty."  
"Well, since it's just a simple transliteration…"  
"419, today would be nice."  
"OK, it's 'koohii.'  
"Kohi?"  
"No, koohii. Long vowel sounds."  
"Oh. OK…"  
Jumba sunk into thoughtful thoughtfulness.  
"Er… Jumba…"  
"Huh?" grunted Jumba, snapping out of the thoughtful thoughtfulness.  
"There's a coffee shop right over there," said 419, pointing to a shop with a giant coffee mug hanging over it.  
"Oh. Right. Coffee."  
Jumba tapped Nani on the shoulder.  
"Er… we're just going to get 626 a drink, and um… we'll catch up shortly."  
He blocked his ears in anticipation, waiting for the 'no'.  
"Okay," said Nani.  
_Huh?_ thought Jumba.

_Three less people I have to watch!_ thought Nani.

"So… whachya doin'?" questioned Lilo.  
"I'm reading some information about Tokyo in this handy guide book," replied Pleakly. "It's _fascinating_!"  
"I'll bet," Lilo pretended to agree, albeit unconvincingly. "So, wanna play a game?"  
"What… _kind_ of game?" Pleakly hesitantly asked.  
"Oh, just Eye Spy. I'm bored."  
"Okaaay… Should I start or you?"  
"I'll start. I spy with my little eye, something beginning with M."  
Pleakley looked around. There was a giant coffee mug, an information desk, a fountain, seats, a food court, and…  
"Mannequin?"  
"Yep. Your turn…"

426, meanwhile, was staring at the food court.  
"No," said Nani firmly, interpreting exactly what 426 was thinking.  
"But…"  
"No."  
"_Nani_…"  
"No."  
"Stitch gets to…"  
"Stitch is getting a _drink_."  
"Oh."  
Silence.  
"Can I..."  
"No!"


	10. Coffee, Stitch and Frogs

**Lilo & Stitch Go To Japan  
****Chapter 10: Coffee, Stitch and Frogs**

"I am not sure."  
Jumba led 419 and 626 through the coffee outlet to the counter.  
"I see whachya mean," 419 replied, "but what logical reason would Nani have to agree?"  
"Nota worak, Nani ishtail?" Stitch asked.  
"And be left alone with Little Girl, Pleakley and 426?" asked Jumba, trying to muffle a laugh. "I doubt that would be _anyone's_ idea of restful."  
At the counter sat a young Japanese teenager; in one hand was what could only be assumed to be the equivalent of _Personal Computer World_, and the youth was reading this intently.  
Jumba coughed. The dude didn't move.  
"Er… hajimashite?" 419 asked in a high-pitched voice.  
At this the teen jumped; he proceeded to hurriedly stow the magazine in a drawer.  
"Hajimashite, watashi no namae wa Joshi desu," he stammered quickly, scattering some of the pens on the desk.  
"Sumimasen."  
"He says his name is Joshi, and he apologises for his unpreparedness," 419 translated.  
"Why is he bowing head? No-one has died…"  
"No, no, no… that's an almost universal greeting in Japan. It's a sign of respect, it's acknowledging your existence. Bow back."  
"If you insist…"  
Jumba preformed a sweeping bow. Stitch nodded his head.  
The counter-person smiled sheepishly and muttered something about 'gaijin'.  
"Gochuu man wa ochimari desuka?"  
"Hai, koohii o..."  
Suddenly, she noticed 626 sneaking behind the counter-guy.  
"...aaa... hitotsu kudasai."  
Placing his head between the coffee spill collection platform and the nozzel, 626 turned on the coffee machine.  
"Denbu de nihyakuen desu," said the counter-guy.  
419 nodded and retrieved 200 yen from her wallet. Stitch pulled his head from under said coffee machine and climbed onto the ceiling.  
Having stored the money in a cash register, Joshi grabbed a cup and put it on the tray.  
"626!" 419 scoulded as Stitch jumped down. "You could get us thrown out!"  
"Soooorry."  
"Ahem," the counter-guy ahemed, holding Stitch's drink.  
419 gave it to Stitch.  
"Be careful, it's..."  
Stitch glugged it down.  
"...hot."  
He burped.  
"Ee, Suteicchi wa koohii ga dai suki desu," said 419, noticing the amazed look on Joshi's face. "Jamata!"

"I spy with my little eye, something beginning with… er…"  
"Hey guys," 419 interrupted, "what we miss?"  
"Well," said Lilo, "Nani went to the bathroom," (the sound of a toilet flushing could be heard in the distance) "and 426 almost got arrested." (426 and a security guard were fighting over a box of pizza.)  
"And I got this hat," said Pleakley. "Isn't it facinating?"

"Hey, Madison!"  
Madison, a ten-year-old girl with long black hair, a white shirt and midnight-blue dress, and a camcorder hanging by her sholder, turned to face her best friend, Sakura, who was blading towards her.  
"How's the report coming along?"  
"Not good," replied Sakura. "A thousand words about frogs. I don't even know a thousand words!"  
"Could be worse."  
"Worse?" Sakura waved her hands in the air. "How could it be conceivably worse?"  
"We could be the CWSA class."  
"Good point."  
"I saw one of their homework assignments. They had to bring in a forklift to load it into the car!"  
Sakura laughed. "Make sure Zachary doesn't hear you, or we'll never hear the end of it."  
"Hey, there's Julian."  
"Where? Who? How do I look?"  
"Fine!" called Julian from his bike, causing Sakura to blush.  
Madison smiled.  
"So... once we get to school, will it be straight to the Tower?"  
"No," said Madison, "Mr. Terada insisted we fit a little 'local history' in before the trip."  
"Great, more research."  
"Look on the bright side," said Madison cheerfully, "Tokyo Tower! And I'll be there to capture every moment on film!"  
"Don't ever change," said Sakura, laughing.

* * *

**A/N:** First off, I apologise if I get any of this wrong, I'm still learning.  
Gaijin is the Japanese word for foreigner, a contraction of 'gaikokujin' (outside country person). Some feel that the latter should be used, and that the former is an insult. However, others do not.  
The conversation that 419 and the counter-guy have can be translated thusly: 

CG: Are you ready to order?  
419: Yes, coffee...  
419: ...er... one, please.  
CG: That will be 200 yen.  
...  
419: Yeah, Stitch really likes coffee. See ya!

CWSA stands for Children With Special Abilities (cue the irony), and is also known as GAT (Gifted And Talented).  
And, since I haven't mentioned it, Cardcaptors/Card Captor Sakura is © CLAMP, Kodansha, NEP21 and Nelvana.


	11. Donut Conversation

**Lilo & Stitch Go To Japan  
****Chapter 11: Donut Conversation**

After wrestling various doughnuts away from the security guard, 426 rejoined the gang, who were grouped around a particularly tall palm tree.  
"OK, is everyone here?" enquired Pleakley as he preformed a head count.  
"Yes, Pleakley," muttered Nani impatiently.  
"Good, 'cause it's nearly time for our train!"  
"What?"  
"We have to move," said Pleakley, "or we'll miss it! And that's not very good, it's the _opposite_ of very good, it's very…"  
"Where's the platforms?" asked Nani anxiously.  
"Er… according to the guide book, the railway runs directly through the middle of the station, so we need to go west to get to the trains."  
"Are you sure?" enquired Nani.  
"Well, if we go back, we'll hit Koshu Kaido No. 20…"  
"Eh?" quizzed 426.  
"The street we had to cross to get here."  
"Ah."

Stitch looked at the timetable. Then he looked at the map.  
"Maka maka, sasa!" he yelled, rushing off.  
Everyone looked to Jumba for an explanation.  
"Er… Stitch is wanting us to follow, I believe he has found shortcut."  
"So, what are we waiting for?" asked Lilo enthusiastically.

They arrived at the terminal just in time; due to a complication with the train tickets they had only _just_ stepped onto the cho-tokku before the doors clamped shut.  
Jumba spotted the young lad he was chatting to earlier and sat down beside him. Lilo and the experiments found two seats facing each other. Pleakley was seated behind them, watching the scenery that was now passing them at high speed. Nani sighed and sat beside him.  
"So… Pleakley, why _do_ they call this a bullet train?"  
Pleakley turned around and opened his mouth to talk. Nani already regretted asking him.  
"Because of the incredible speed. I _think_… normal cruising velocity is one-hundred and twenty-five miles an hour!"  
"Isn't that a bit… unsafe?" asked Nani uncertainly. "What if one derailed?"  
"Pish posh!" replied Pleakley, waving a hand nonchalantly. "In the history of the bullet train, only one has ever derailed… during an earthquake, I think it was, and no-one was hurt beyond being bruised a bit."  
Hearing this, Jumba excused himself and leaned over the aisle.  
"Ah, yes, but… what if I were to, how you say… _play around_ with the gyroscopic stabilisers?"  
"Nothing short of, oh, I dunno, _utter chaos_!"  
Pleakley gave Jumba a suspicious look.  
"You _wouldn't_…"  
"What, _me_? No!" said Jumba unconvincingly.

A few minutes into the trip and everything was going more or less smoothly. Lilo was in animated conversation with 419, 426 was misinterpreting almost everything Stitch said, Jumba was arguing with his friend about whether Fedora Core Stenz will be better than Heidelburg and whether Berry Linux had any merit, Pleakley was taking notes, and Nani was sitting beside him, terribly bored and wondering why she didn't invite David.  
Moments like this called for a good book, so Nani retrieved a copy of _The Ersatz Elevator_, flipped to where she had placed a bookmark, and began to read.  
No-one noticed the door had opened; only a few looked up when it closed. Those who did quickly went back to what they were doing; it was just _another_ person heading off to work.  
This person, a young woman in her mid-twenties, silently glanced around the cabin, presumably to find a free seat; having spotted one, she sat down, pulled out a newspaper and started browsing through the Letters to the Editor.

"So… how're you and 426 doing?" asked Lilo.  
"Oh, OK," replied 419, "we're doing a fair job with the whole 'fitting in…'"  
Here, 419 paused; 426 and 626's conversation filled the void.  
"Ika ganeba?"  
"For the last time, I do _not_ want a banana!"  
"Er… well, at least, I am," corrected 419. "Some of the experiments seem to remember me from days of old – I sometimes helped Jumba out with various things - and most remember 426, for… er, an assortment of reasons; so we've got along well with those friendly faces."  
"What about Jumba's little project?"  
"He's still working on it, but he's saying he'll finish it… I think he said 22 May 2005."  
"Two months, huh?" Lilo rested her head on her hand. "I suppose… er, never mind."  
"What?"  
"'Sokay, doesn't matter," replied Lilo, sitting back in her chair. "Say… why do you always put the year at the end of dates?"  
"Aren't you supposed to?" asked 419, perturbed.  
"Well, yeah… for schoolwork and projects and diaries and stuff… and there's if you're not talking about _this_ year… but if it _is_ this year, you don't _have_ to."  
"I… _suppose_ that makes sense… so, how's your life been?"  
"The usual," sighed Lilo. "School, homework, chores, hula practice, Mertle…"  
"I thought Mertle was being nicer towards you."  
"In her own special way… but she hasn't shed her shell yet. Yuki and Teresa have been better, but still…"  
"What about that kid with the hyphenated name? Jay-Stone or something…"  
"Victoria? Didn't you know, she was already my friend."  
"Ah, the girl with freckles, red hair and experiment 277!"  
"Yeah, her."  
419 leaned back in her chair. "Y'know, I never get to talk about girl things. 426's always _animé_ this and _football_ that, and Jumba's always blowing stuff up! Not that I mind an explosion or two," she added, "but once in a while, I'd just like to…"  
"I'm having a sleepover when we get back," Lilo told her. "You can join in if you'd like."  
419 nodded.  
"That'd be nice."


	12. Crazy Stories

**Lilo & Stitch Go To Japan  
****Chapter 12: Crazy Stories**

"And ever since, his ghost has haunted Tokyo Tower, howling to the moon," finished Zachary, a scruffy boy with constantly closed eyelids.  
"Really?" asked a girl with curly black hair.  
"Uhuh, true story. _That's_ why you're not allowed 'round the park surrounding it after dark. Y'know, they've got…"  
But he stopped, for his cousin had grabbed him by the ear and was now pulling him away.  
"Ow… ow… ow…"  
"How many times have I asked you to stop telling your crazy stories?" she scolded him as he ambled behind her.  
"Crazy? Ow… Chelsea… ow… they're not crazy!"  
Chelsea dropped him and placed her hands on her hips.  
"Poltergeists throwing stuff off the school roof? Ghouls in those caves making people disappear? They sure sound crazy to me."  
"My analytical skills," Zachary said, picking himself up, "are top notch, thank you very much. It's not like the music room piano destroyed itself, y'know."  
"It could have been… er… a teacher with a grudge? I don't know…"  
"Exactly."  
"But you don't know either! It's not like you were there or anything."  
"True but… hey, Sakura!"  
Chelsea looked around. Rocking back and forth on her heels was Sakura, her cheeks pink with embarrassment.  
"What's up with you?"

"Oh… nothing," sing-songed Sakura; it had been her actions that had sent the piano down the perilous path to destruction.  
"Uhuh… whatever."  
"So, how did ya do on that test last week?" she quickly asked; perhaps a little too quickly, for Chelsea gave her a weird look.  
"Er… B-minus," she said slowly, as if she had doubts on whether answering was a good idea.  
"C-plus!" exclaimed Zachary excitedly.  
"Best score he's gotten all year," muttered Chelsea, rolling her eyes. "So, how about you guys?"  
"I got a B-minus as well," replied Sakura.  
"B-plus," rang a voice from behind Sakura.  
"Madison!" Sakura said in surprise. "I'd wondered where you'd gone."  
"I did have difficulty on the last question, though," Madison continued. "Did anyone get that?"  
"Rita, probably," murmured Chelsea. "Hey Rita!"  
The girl with curly black hair looked up. Chelsea beckoned her to come over, which she did, although rather hesitantly; Chelsea was known for her fierce personality.  
"Rita, we were just talking about the test, and we were wondering how ya did."  
"Well, I got a…"  
But Rita never finished her sentence.  
"OK, class, in your seats and settle down."  
At the sound of Mr. Terada's voice, Rita jumped. Chelsea raised her eyebrow.

After the collective sounds of chairs scraping and pencil cases dumping had receded, Mr. Terada wrote some stuff on the board. The kids, too exited to concentrate, all pretended to scribble down notes; instead opting to draw, doodle and ruler-fight. After the fifth imaginary fencing match concluded, the bell rang for second period, and Mr. Terada led the class to the buses waiting outside.  
Down the hallways the babbling brook of students went, until halted by a huffing noise; a rather annoyed but tired voice explained between breaths that something unexpected had come up and he'd been delayed. With a slightly disapproving "mm-hmm", Mr. Terada signalled for him to move to the back of the class, where the corresponding students were craning their necks to see who it was.  
A young boy, not much older than Sakura, made his way through the groups of gossiping tweens, his spiky hair shaking up and down, a rather serious look on his face. Indeed, Li Showrun was hardly ever seen _without_ this look, and he would often use it scathingly upon the many things that he disapproved of, including girl talk, stuffed animals, and their old substitute, Ms. Mackenzie.  
As the rest of the class started moving again, Sakura asked Li what the matter was.  
"What d'ya mean?"  
"You seem..." Sakura searched for the right word.  
"…upset," finished Madison.  
"Forget it, I'll tell you later," he murmured as he ascended the steps of the bus.

From the corner of his eye, someone was watching Sakura.  
Eli Moon had always had the unnatural ability to look as if he was staring straight ahead when his eyes were elsewhere. Granted, it meant that he seemed almost dazed at times, but it did have advantages.  
Then again, what _was_ natural about him?  
Suddenly, he felt a jab in his shoulder. Zachary.  
"Er… are you all right?" he asked.  
Concern. Pfft.  
"Er… yeah, I'm fine. Just… thinking."  
"It's just that… you seem to think a lot."  
"Why, is that a bad thing?"  
"No, not at all! Thinking leads to knowing, that's what my old man always said."  
Eli thought about this. Some silent moments passed.  
Zachary's silence struck Eli as odd, and he wondered how he could bear to stay quiet. Before he could mention this, however, the voice of their teacher rang throughout the bus.  
"OK, is that everybody?" yelled Mr. Terada over the incessant talking, yakking and general chit-chat.  
"Yes, Mr. Terada," the children chorused, before returning to the conversations they were so rudely interrupted from.


	13. Transportation

**A/N:** Ack! I had this chapter finished in April, but I forgot to upload it... Sorry!

**Lilo & Stitch Go To Japan  
****Chapter 13: Transportation**

"Jumba! What'chu do to Stitch?"

The furry blue experiment's gums, moments before having been continuously flapping from the force of air passing by them at a hundred miles per hour, were made still as he pulled his head through the window. What was remarkable was that the window was firmly in place and completely intact; in fact, there was no evidence that it had been disturbed at all, apart from the splattering of slobber that now covered half the outside of carriage A-4.

"Well, the matter making up Stitch's head is right now out of phase with the matter making up the glass, or indeed, any matter at all," explained Jumba.

Everyone looked stumped.

"Er… I am making it so his head can be going through solid matter," he simplified. "He wanted to stick his head out of window like in car, no?"

"But you're _not meant to do you-know-what in front of other people_!" whispered a highly annoyed Nani. "Did you learn anything from what happened the last time that happened?"

"I know, I know," Jumba moaned as Nani's voice started reverberating around his head. "'Never be flying spaceship at low altitude through lightning storm.'"

"That's not what I meant," growled Nani through gritted teeth. "It was on _The News At Five_! We might as well have told everyone you're an alien!"

Jumba tried to block his ears as the voice of _Five_'s anchorwoman joined that of Nani; this did not work, however, as they were in his head and as such not relayed through his ear.

"Look, it wasn't my fault!" he argued back, making sure to keep his voice down. "We were not having enough fuel to be..."

"Well, you could have…"

"Um, yeah, hi," 426 butted in. "You _do_ know that whispering loudly makes you sound very suspicious?"

Nani scanned the area. Everyone in the carriage was looking at them.

Looking back at Jumba, she muttered, "Don't."

And then she stood up, and, addressing the passengers, explained, with 419 translating, that she was having an argument with her uncle about who would pay their train fare and hotel bookings, after which everyone went back to reading their newspapers, books, and other whatnot.

Wiping her brow as she sat back in her seat, Nani reflected to Pleakley, "_He's_ paying for the ticket."

. .

About two kilometres to the east, Eli took a rather large bite from a lettuce and tomato cheese sandwich while, at the same time, tried to block his ears.

Yap, yap, yap, is that all kids did?

Beside him, Zachary was chatting rapidly to the kids behind him, probably elaborating upon his previous tale. To his fore, the bus driver hummed and waved his fingers along with music heard only by him. Mr. Terada was in animated conversation with his mobile phone, apparently over overdue library books. The boys were strewn throughout the bus, arguing about cars and computers and whether the Y-Cube 180 was better than the FunPost; the girls were grouped at the back, chitchatting about boys, bands, and hair baubles. Eli found it all rather annoying; he couldn't focus his energy when there was too much noise.

And it wasn't like he was put on this earth to jabber his mouth off every second of his life.

Sighing, he turned his gaze to the quickly-passing scenery. The familiar suburban neighbourhoods had long since receded into the distance; tall skyscrapers replaced them, kissing the sky, the shimmering reflection of the sun bouncing off its windows. Inside, people hurried and scurried about, as if they were ants in a colony.

Eli sighed. People work too much now-a-days. Back in _his_ day… well, back in Master Reed's day, people took time to appreciate things. Now, it was nothing but work.

He silently returned to his chowder, trying, without avail, to ignore the rising noise around him.

. .

Twenty seats behind him, Madison was dealing with this annoyance in her own way. She was filming it.

"And this," she narrated into her voice recorder, "is the motley crew of shipmates, sailing on their ragged pirate ship towards the booty they so desire…"

"Madison!" laughed Sakura.

Turning the camera towards herself, she continued:

"And among them sits the three musketeers, lying in wait for… oh, c'mon, Li!"

"Hmf!" muttered Li, who had folded his arms over his head.

"C'mon, it's not like it'll steal your soul," said Sakura jokingly.

"Says the girl who takes her advice from a stuffed animal," retorted Li.

"Hey! What did you say!"

"Calm down, guys!" Madison implored, reaching her arms in front of her. "I mean, it's not like the sky is falling."

And with a snap, she turned off her camera. Li shot her a look of annoyance, which she returned with a look of frustration.

"What's wrong with Madison taking a video of you?" asked Sakura, with a slight touch of venom in her voice.

"Well, firstly, she didn't ask. Secondly, she didn't respect my answer."

"Li, you're such a spoilsport," Madison retorted, putting her camera back in her bag.

"And you're such a pain," Li nonchalantly replied.

"Surely you don't mean that, Li!" said Sakura, sounding hurt by the implication.

"Well, it's true," he grumbled, shuffling in his seat.

The trio exchanged tongue-poking, and within two minutes, the two girls were chatting intently, with Li avidly trying to ignore them.


	14. Lunchboxes and Magic

**A/N:** And it's back! Ahahahaha! Er... *ahem*.

To clarify, Shinjuku doesn't service shinkansen (bullet trains), which I only learnt _after_ writing the previous chapters. ^^; Suffice to say, Nani in Ch11 was either a) mistaken or b) not referring to the train they were in.

* * *

**Lilo & Stitch Go To Japan  
****Chapter 14: Lunchboxes and Magic**

Nani found herself nodding off quite a few times.

After all, this was to be expected. Even trains travelling at speeds excess of two-hundred kilometres an hour took time to travel. And even though they weren't in a bullet train, they were travelling at quite a speed. Still, she scolded herself as a bump awoke her, slouched across her book.

"Are we there yet?" she yawned to Pleakley, stretching out her arms.

"We've still got a bit to go," he replied, inspecting the handbook. "We'll have to get out at Ebs-su Station…"

"Ebisu," 419 corrected him, reading the timetable over his shoulder.

"Right, and if I'm reading this right, we need to transfer to a subway train for the rest of the journey."

"Don't worry, you're right, I think." 419 nodded, forgetting that Pleakley couldn't see her. "Although I'd say…"

At that moment, a screeching noise interrupted the experiment, and with a jolt, the train began to slow. As this noise disappeared, a voice rang loud over the public broadcast system of the train.

"…Ebisu Eki ni touchaku shiteru."

Nani briefly mused about the number of times she'd heard Jumba or the experiments cut off by some kind of announcement. It was almost as if they were timed to begin at the most inopportune time.

"They said we're arriving," said 419, jumping down from her seat.

"Excellent! Evil genius body can finally stretch," said Jumba heartedly, evidently anticipating the moment he could stretch his legs.

Pleakley shook his head. "Nuh-uh. We can't stay long, not at all!" He briefly shifted his gaze from the timetable to the track ahead, and then back to the timetable. "The next train arrives in about ten minutes, so we have to be prepared!"

At that moment, the windows were plunged into absolute darkness as the train left the world of the surface and entered a tunnel to the underground.

The only light came from the LED lamps fixed into the roof of the train, illuminating some rather incomplete graffiti (which, as 419 muttered to Nani, was a good thing, considering what it was beginning to spell), painted neatly over garish concrete, and the massive bulbous incandescent lights, hovering high above the ground like looming spectres or ghostly vultures, flooding the platform before them in a silvery glow.

With a final unceremonious lurch, the train came to an abrupt halt. Nani found herself grasping the side rails to prevent herself from falling to the floor.

"Ebisu Eki," the voice over the intercom repeated, and the doors opened quickly, revealing the shimmering platform beyond.

* * *

Through glass windows and warming metal, the early morning sun beat down on three young friends as they rode a bus past the concrete towers of Tokyo. Much to Li's great relief, Sakura and Madison had run out of topics to talk about, and were now leaning back on the armrests, staring at the sky. Unfortunately for Li, this silence didn't last for long.

"It's sooo hot…" moaned Sakura, sounding rather zombie-like. Hmm, Sakura the zombie. Li thought this was an apt description.

"Why not have a drink?" Madison suggested. "Doesn't your dad always pack you those scrumptious lunches?"

"Oh yeah! But…" Sakura glanced at the sign declaring "NO FOOD NO DRINK" at the front of the bus.

"Don't worry, I'm sure no-one would mind! Besides, in this heat, it's completely understandable that someone would want a drink, right?" said Madison reassuringly, winking slyly.

"I guess," said Sakura, looking down at her pastel-yellow winged backpack.

"This is only going to end badly," muttered Li, reflecting briefly on the last couple of times Sakura checked her bag for food. And sure enough, as she opened her satchel and pulled back some books, the first thing she saw was…

"KERO!" shouted Sakura, forgetting for a moment that she was in a crowded bus. "Er, just an appointment I'd forgotten!" she quickly stammered, hastily hiding her bag behind her back, a bead of sweat running down her face. Everyone who had looked up turned back to what they were doing, evidently content with her explanation.

"Good save," Madison smiled, her thumbs pointing upwards. Li nodded briskly; evidently, he didn't consider it a good save at all.

"Keroberos, what am I going to do with you?" Sakura groaned into her bag.

"Well," replied the small yellow winged bear-like creature sitting inside her lunchbox, "you can always tell your dad to stop packing this _delicious _food – you know I can't resist it."

"I doubt he can resist any kind of treat," Madison added. "Hey, Kero, I've got some coconut lamingtons in my lunchbox, would you like to try some?"

"Oh boy, would I ever!" he excitedly exclaimed, and with those words he leapt from Sakura's open bag to Madison's.

"Don't encourage him," scolded Sakura and Li in unison

"Oh, no, it's OK," said Madison with a smile. "Besides, Kero won't do it again, will you, Kero?"

"Sure, sure," agreed Kero half-heartedly, speaking between mouthfuls of lamington.

"See?" assured Madison. Li wasn't sure if she was being facetious or if she actually believed him.

"Besides… om-nom-nom… that's not the… om-nom… only reason I'm… om… here," continued Kero, finishing off the lamington. "Well, lately I've been picking up some unusual… _readings_, I guess, around your classmates recently."

"Oh?" asked Sakura. A pain that he was, Kero's feelings were often quite accurate. Then again, seeing that he _was_ a magical creature, Li suspected he shouldn't be surprised.

"Well, usually I can tell whether or not anyone possesses magical properties, but this feeling is…"

Kero paused for a moment, as if trying to think of the right description.

"_Impresise_, I would say. Almost like an echo, but whatever it is, it's a strong one."

He briefly shot a look at Li before continuing.

"I'm sure the brat would agree. Li?"

Li paused briefly to consider whether he should respond to Kero's insult. He decided not to.

"Well, now that I think of it, I _have_ been having this odd feeling lately. I snuck my lasenboard in to check it out once, but it couldn't pinpoint any source. I had shook it off as me being over-suspicious, but…"

Kero shook his head. "Uh-uh, kid, always trust your instincts."

Sakura wasn't as complacent. "You brought your _lasenboard_ to school? What happened to 'being careful'?"

"Hey, no one saw!" objected Li. "I made sure I preformed the spell in the main hall – you know it's deserted during interval."

"And what if you _had_ found something? How do you think you'd explain the _bright beam of light_ pulsing through the school?"

"Easy." He pulled out a small canister with a button at the end. "This is one of those new laser pointer thingies that they're selling now." He held the button down, and sure enough, a beam of light, very similar to the one his lasenboard emanated, shone out of the end.

"Well, I have to admit, the kid's got it covered!" said Kero, smiling. "So, anyway, I wanted to get a better sense of things, scope out the area, stuff like that. Don't worry, I'll keep out of sight!" he added, as a very sceptical look formed on Sakura's face.

"How do I know you won't just go off and pig out some more?"

"Hey! While I have been… _a little_ excessive with my consumption habits, I've got it under control now."

At these words, the trio burst out laughing. This drew stares from not an insignificant number of students.

"Sakura may be one of our most athletic students…" reflected Chelsea.

"Mm-hmm," agreed Nikki.

"And she may be one of our close friends…"

"Mm-hmm…"

"But sometimes she and her friends can be a little weird."

"Mmm-hmm."

Upon hearing this, Li stopped laughing, but otherwise ignored them. Hiding the existence of magic from the world often meant looking very weird, so he was used to it by now.

The other two hadn't heard the comments, and Li supposed he should keep it that way. He didn't want to spoil either of their good moods, although he suspected they'd probably be good sports about it.

Li sighed. Being friends with girls was hard.

* * *

Eli cautiously listened in to the conversation the girls were having, all the while pretending to sip some juice and listen to Zachary retell one of his weird stories. Was this the one about the piano?

He smiled for a bit. Humans can go to such lengths to pretend weird things _weren't_ happening around them _unless_ they were directly confronted with it. Of course, it had been partially _his_ fault that the piano had tumbled to its doom, but no-one suspected him in the least.

Except for that Li guy.

Well, he didn't suspect that he had anything to do with the piano. He just suspected _something_ about him. Vague as that was, it still represented a threat.

But he was only annoying, nothing more, and Eli more than suspected that Sakura thought him as paranoid in that regard.

His eyes widened slightly when he'd heard a voice so unmistakeable, he'd swear he could pick it out of a group of any number of people, no matter how large.

Keroberos. Drat, this'd be more difficult than he'd thought.

He took another swig of his bottle. He could still do this, he just needed to distract Keroberos when the time came to act. With him out of the way, this would be easy.

And young Sakura wouldn't suspect a thing.


	15. Arrival

**Lilo & Stitch Go To Japan  
****Chapter 15: Arrival **

The ride on the subway train was much smoother than the normal train they had just been on. Or perhaps that was just Nani's current sense of calmness – they had had to rush several flights of stairs, cross across a busy intersection, and climb _down_ several more to reach the subway station (which was, oddly enough, in a different building and even then they had only enough time to rush through the ticket office, along long steel barriers leading to faregates, and enter the train before the doors swiftly clamped shut. There was a moment where Nani had thought she lost Lilo, during which a terrible feeling in her gut had welled up, but it turned out she had decided to chat to someone with a newspaper (who was looking at her with a rather bemused look on her face, but otherwise saying nothing.)

But now everything was fine, and they were barely a minute or two from their destination. After all that rush and panic, it was almost welcome to be just sitting down and calmly reading her novel. It was a rather interesting one too, or so she thought – it had been recommended by a friend, and so far it was proving to be its money's worth.

It'd probably be still on the shelf collecting dust if not for this trip.

Gradually, the train started to slow. "Roppongi Eki", as the overly-polite female voice announced, was the name of the station ahead (419 had told them that "eki" was the Japanese postfix for "station", so the word directly preceding it was most likely the name; Pleakey agreed after consulting his guidebook, although this wasn't the most ringing endorsement Nani could think of).

Nani stared through the window as the station approached. Roppongi Station's white tiled walls belayed a somewhat clinical feel. Despite being traversed by, perhaps, hundreds of people, the place was relativity clean.

Nani shivered. She didn't know why, but all of a sudden she had a very odd sensation. A feeling of sinking… wrongness. She supposed that it might just be her gut's reaction to the contrast between the station's state and it's function. No station should be _that_ clean.

Nani counted off the stations they had passed in her head. By her count, this was the second since Ebisu, so the next one, the third, would be the stop they get off at.

As the train reached a state of haltedness, Nani looked around the cabin. Stitch was talking with Jumba in hushed tones in whatever alien language they both spoke. As she watched, Stitch proceeded to quickly glare over his shoulder at a curious child in the seat in front in the eye (who quickly slid his head below the seat top) and then returned to his dealings.

Though no-one was looking at her, she raised an eyebrow. She didn't like it when her alien guests were plotting something secretly – and there was no doubt they were, since they really had no need to speak quietly since no-one could understand them anyway. The main reason she did not like alien plans - and, worse of all, Jumba's plans - was because the majority of those ended in explosions of varying sizes.

She decided to let this one slide - best not to draw attention to them. Hopefully the resulting explosion wouldn't be _too_ large.

Lilo was staring outside at the people littering the station. Nani remembered that she had forgotten to pack her camera, so she guessed she was taking mental photographs or something.

426 had started chatting to a twenty-something year-old lady with a large box of some kind. Nani felt as if she had seen the lady before but couldn't place where.

Probably someone she had seen in Ebisu Station.

Finally, 419 was talking with Pleakley about… well, it had _something_ to do with train stations.

"Isn't the next station Aoyama-Itchoume?"

"No, that's the Ouedo Line, the magenta one. You know, like me?" The experiment tugged at her fur to emphasise. "You want the Hibiya Line.' She pointed to one of the many lines on a map that would not look out of place in a pile of diagrams depicting the piping systems of various buildings.

'I thought Hibiya was magenta," said Pleakly, his one eyebrow raising slightly.

"No, it's grey," replied 419, matter-of-factly.

Pleakley examined the map closely for a few seconds. "Ah, that _does_ makes more sense. So our stop is Kamiyachou, and from there…"

He quickly flipped from the train route map to the road map.

"Hmm… if I'm reading this right, that's in walking distance of the tower!"

419 looked over the map, and nodded.

"Okay, then." He looked around, then, spotting Nani, ran up to her. "Hey, Nani, I want you to be clear on where we're going."

Nani sighed. _That_ was a change.

"We're getting off at Kamiyachou, and then- woah!"

The now slightly emptier carriage shuddered somewhat the train began to move. Nani peered out the window – outside, Roppongi Eki rapidly slipped from her view.

"Er, where was I?" asked Pleakley, somewhat sheepishly.

"Getting off at Carmy-Yachoo,' replied Nani, turning back to Pleakley.

"Ah, right. Although, it's pronounced 'kah-me-yah-choh-oh'." He paused between the syllables to emphasise each one.

Nani furled her forehead. "Can we get on with what's happening next? I don't need a Japanese lecture."

"Right." He flipped his guidebook to a road map, presumably of the area.

"This is Kamiyachou Station," said the alien, pointing to a blue square with a white icon representing a train inside, placed along a long yellow line, surely a main road of some description. "We'll be following this road to this intersection, then we turn left. Tokyo Tower should be straight ahead."

A white line ran alongside a purple symbol surrounded on three of four sides by some kind of street. Besides the purple dot lay strange and cryptic writing, which Nani supposed said "Tokyo Tower" in whatever language the guide was written in.

"What happens if we get lost?" asked Nani.

"As long as we get to the intersection, we should be able to see the tower from there," replied Pleakley. "Even then, we could simply ask for directions."

Somehow, Nani doubted Pleakley was the one to ask for directions.

She also doubted that the tower would be able to be seen from too far away. Pleakley was, of course, used to Kokaua Town, where the tallest building was the Mo'ikeha Hall and Community Centre, where Lilo had her hula lessons, and which could be seen at least half a kilometre away. He wasn't used to tall skyscrapers, which could very easily obscure the tower unless one was very close to it.

Perhaps she was just overthinking things. Maybe Pleakley had already considered that. Perhaps he had some hologram of Tokyo City tucked away and had consulted that before they left.

And perhaps Pleakley would learn to eat cereal with a spoon.

Still, Experiment 419 appeared to be very fluent in Japanese, so if – no, _when_ they got lost, Nani guessed they could rely on her.

She had gotten about fifteen pages through her book before the train started to slow again, and as expected, the overly polite woman announced "Kamiyachou Eki". She sighed, placed the book in her knapsack, and stood up, grasping a pole to steady herself as the train came to a complete stop and the doors opened.

"Alright, this is us!" exclaimed Pleakley, closing his book and standing up himself. Nani silently wished he wouldn't draw attention to himself _or_ the rest of her "family".

Jumba finished talking, lumbered to his feet and walked towards the door, with Stitch following behind on all fours. 419 and Lilo raced to the door, with Lilo almost accidentally knocking Pleakley over as she did.

426 was still talking to the woman with the box.

"Hey, 426, we're leaving!"

"Hm?"

He looked at Nani, slightly puzzled for a moment, and then realisation dawned.

"Oh!"

He shook the woman's hand.

"Well, thanks for the chat. I'd say 'see ya', but I'm on vacation so I probably won't."

She smiled, stood up, and walked to the door.

"Oh, I don't know about that – fate has a way of tying people together. Take care!"

And with that, she briskly walked out into the station platform.

"Who was that?" Nani asked 426 as they both got off the train.

"I dunno, some substitute teacher or something. She said she was riding the train to 'go where she was needed.' Guess they have an emergency at some school."

Nani sighed again.

"What?" asked 426.

"It's just… you're meant to be keeping a low profile," replied Nani. "Disguises like the ones you're wearing only work at a glance, and while most people seem to only see what they want to see, not everyone will be fooled at close quarters."

She stared towards the ticket barristers, as if remembering something.

"There will be people who aren't what they seem."

A few moments of silence passed.

"Er, Nani?" squeaked a high pitched voice.

"Huh?"

"As absolutely _fascinating_ as it is, we should probably do our reflective thinking _after_ we pass through the barriers."

Nani turned to look at Pleakley, who was on the other side of the barrier – he was pointing back at a small group of about five people who had amassed behind them and were now staring at them impatiently.

"Er, right," she said, and so she swiped her ticket, and then followed Pleakley towards a flight of stairs, with the rest following their lead.


End file.
